An Unpredictable Journey
by KatherineAnne51
Summary: The storyline sets off right after the scene where Monroe saves Charlie, who has been drugged in a bar in the Plain Nations in episode 4 of season 2. From that moment on Charlie is torn between the feelings of love and hate. Will they be able to make things up while travelling to Texas together? -Some storylines are similar to the originals and some are totally different-
1. Chapter 1 - The Awaking

Charlie's head was pounding as she slowly opened her eyes. She felt terrible, like someone just punched her a thousand times.  
Heavily breathing, she tried to get up but everything around her was spinning and blurry. For a second, she felt like she was back on that boat with Miles,  
helping that kidnapped father getting back to his children and his wife, but as soon as she looked to her left,  
she could see that someone was sitting right next to her.

Carefully, Charlie leaned back on her arms trying to focus on the person, but the fact that it was already dark and that she still wasn't able to see property,  
made it impossible for her to recognize the face. After blinking a few times she began to see more clearly, slowly she managed to recognize the person,  
the man who was sitting next to her, starting with the outlines of the face, the dark curly hair and then going over to details like the blue eyes,  
which were looking right at her with an almost concerned look. It was Bass Monroe. The person who killed both, her father and her brother.  
The reason why her mother had to leave them in the first place.  
Charlie's eyes widen with anger but her look changes to confusion, as she remembers what happened the night before.

Her memories are blurry and they seem to come back in small pieces but she remembers entering a bar,  
eating a soup, which was neither really good nor bad and having a drink. She remembers a guy, trying to flirt with her, trying to buy her another drink  
and as she was about to leave she realized that they've locked the door. She remembers feeling dizzy as she tried to fight off those greedy men,  
who were obviously trying to get in her pants. And she remembers Bass Monroe, helping her before everything went black.

Before Charlie could speak up, she felt herself getting dizzy again, breathing heavily until she collapsed, her visions going black once more.


	2. Chapter 2 - Wanted

As Charlie opened her eyes for the second time, Bass was kneeling right next to her and this time his concern was written  
all over his face. She could hear him talking to her as she slowly started pushing herself up, into a straight position.

"Take it easy, take it easy," he said.

"Monroe? What are you doing here?," she asked, knowing it was a stupid question right after she has asked.

"How are you feeling?," he answered in return, while moving closer and watching her carefully.

"Get the hell away from me," she ordered glaring at him.

As told, Bass moved back slowly, still keeping her eyes on her as he started looking through his bag for his water bottle.  
As he found it, he tossed it to her.

"Drink. You need to flush the drugs out of your system, so that we can move on. This place here is not save."

Charlie stared down at the bottle and then back up at him. She didn't want his help but she knew he was right  
as she looked around and noticed that they were sitting under a tree, surrounded by a huge meadow.

"For god sakes, just drink it," he said, not even trying to hide how annoyed he is.

"See, there we go. Not that hard," he teased, as he watched her lifting the bottle up to her lips  
and taking a few sips.

"Listen, I'm thankful that you saved me and all, but I don't need you to look after me now, I'm fine," Charlie said, as she handed him back  
the bottle and got up. Seeing the look he gave her, she kept going.

"I can stand by myself as you can see, I don't need your help and I definitely don't need your company."

Charlie watched Bass as he got up, his expression unreadable. Slowly she started to wonder what was going on in his head but as soon as she  
caught herself thinking about it she refused to waste more time with it.

"Charlotte, I need to show you something," he said, searching for something in his pockets.

As he found the paper that he was looking for, he started unfolding it and handed it to her.

"So what? They are looking for you, that surprised? You're a psychopath," she replied after reading the paper  
which showed a picture of Monroe and said that he's wanted.

"It's not about that," he answered, while fishing another paper out of his pockets.

As soon as he had unfolded it, he showed it to her.

The paper looked exactly the same from the distance, but when she got a closer look,

she was able to read the title: "Wanted: Rachel Matheson"

"My mom? What do they want with my mom?," she asked irritated, while taking it out of his hands to get a better look at it.

"I don't know but whatever it is, it can't be good. I just want to help you."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?," she scoffed.

"Because you could use a little help and I need you," he replied, keeping his stare on her.

"Need me? Don't you even think about touching me in any way, you pervert," she said with a disgusted look on her face.

"I didn't mean it like that, Charlotte," he said chuckling and added quickly "I need you to take me to Miles and Rachel."

"And why on earth should I do that? What do you even want from them? They can't save you, matter of fact  
they would probably kill you without even thinking twice about it," she answered bitterly.

"I know that, but I need to help them. A lot of things have changed and with Rachel being wanted, it's not going to get any easier.  
Besides, they might also be looking for you, since they know that you're her daughter. Just let me help you."

"I don't want your help. I don't need it. I can take care of myself. I've been alone for about a month now."

"And that worked out so well? As far as I remember I'm the one who saved your ass last night. Besides,  
what about your mom? We need to tell her."

Bass watched her as she shifted her weight from one foot to another, thinking about the things he just said.  
By the time she started packing her backpack, he already knew she wouldn't accept his help, at least not for now.

"I'm going to leave now and I don't want you to even think about following me," she said looking up at him for a few seconds.

"If you want to stop me, then you gotta shoot me cause otherwise you won't make me stay with you," she added  
as she turned around and started to walk away.

Charlie didn't even need to turn around to see him lifting his gun and thinking about it. She knew that he wouldn't actually shoot her  
because that would be too insane, even for Monroe himself.

Bass watched her as she disappeared into the woods, still with his gun aimed into the direction she had left.

"Damn it", he yelled angrily while putting his gun down.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Chase

Bass knew that his plan would work out. He knew that sooner or later, Charlie would try to catch up with him.  
That she would agree and take him to Miles because she's smart, she just has to realize that her chances  
of surviving are bigger with him than without him. And eventually his plan did work out.

It's been a couple of days since Bass noticed that Charlie was following him but even though he knew it,  
he didn't stop or confronted her. He just kept going and doing his thing, waiting for her to catch up with him,  
waiting for her to be ready to admit it.

As the day finally came, Bass started leading her into a circle, going another way, deep into the woods.  
He could her footsteps getting closer and louder, so he started running. He tried to be as loud as possible,  
but only so loud that it wouldn't seem obvious to her.

"Monroe, stop," he could her yelling after some time.

Bass stopped abruptly, turning around quickly, so quickly that she almost slammed into him.

'What the hell is wrong with you?," she shouted angrily and took a few steps back, holding her stare on his.

'Wrong with me? You're the one who's chasing after me for hours," he replied looking down at her.

"What, you just noticed? I've been following you for days," she said almost grinning.

"Well, I'm sorry. I was too busy being hungry and tried to notice," he lied.

"Yeah I'm sure that's it," she answered, obviously making fun of him.

"So, here I am, what do you want?," he asked, ignoring her comment and playing himself stupid.

"I thought about what you said, about bringing you to Miles and I've changed my mind"

"You did, huh?," he answered smirking.

"Shut up, Monroe," she said rolling her eyes at him, which made him smirk even more.

"Well, it's my pleasure to come with you," he replied, trying to be funny which made him get an annoyed look from Charlie.

"They are in Willoughby, as in Texas," she said looking at him for a reaction.

"That's a long way, we better get going," he demanded and started walking back to the way they came from, passing by her.

"Where the hell are you going,?" she asked, with a high pitched voice, higher than she meant it to be.

"Do you really think that I was going this way? Come on Charlotte, there's nothing out here. I was leading you  
another way when I noticed you were following me about an hour ago"

Charlie just looked at him quietly for a second before speaking up again.

"Fair enough," she said and starting following him.


	4. Chapter 4 - Taking A Break

They have been walking for hours now, giving each other sneaky looks while the other one wasn't paying attention.  
As Charlie finally spoke up, she sounded annoyed and bored.

"Do you even have any idea where we are going?"

"Yeah," he answered, glancing at her.

"Well, where are we going? We've been walking for hours now."

"If it wasn't for you, I would have had a place to stay about two hours ago," he answered while he stopped walking to look annoyed down at her.

"What place? Why didn't we stop there? It's not like I care where we take breaks."

"Believe me, it's not a place you would want to go," he replied, while looking from her face down to her body and backup with a big grin on his face.

Charlie couldn't help to look away, knowing immediately what kind of place he meant, a whorehouse obviously.

"Why don't you stop complaining, so that we can move on?," Bass suggested with an amused look on his face.

"Whatever," she answered, trying to sound as normal as she could.

As they finally reached a small town, Charlie let out a sigh of relieve. They passed a few houses before turning left  
and stopping in front of a small one, which was marked as a bar. Bass opened the door and waited for Charlie to enter  
which made her mumble a quiet "Thanks" in return.

Charlie looked around, walking slowly, trying to see as much as possible while Bass walked straight to the bar. He obviously had been here before.

"How did you find this place?," Charlie asked, as she sat down next to him by the bar.

"Miles and I used to stop here whenever we were traveling around. We had to go to Texas a couple of times back in the day."

Judging by his look, he wasn't going to tell her more so she just let it go.

"You want something to eat or drink? It's on me," he offered after some time.

"No, I'm not hungry"

Bass leaned over to the bartender and ordered two soups, water and whiskey which earned him an annoyed look from Charlie.

"I said, I don't want anything."

"Well, you have to eat something," he replied while taking a sip from his glass of whiskey.

As the food came they both started eating, even though Charlie refused to eat much.  
She watched him as he ordered another whiskey.

"Are you going to order another one? You know, it's not really intelligent to get drunk when you're wanted and you're in a public bar  
where everyone could recognize you."

"Uh-Uhm," he mumbled, not looking up from his glass.

As he finished it, he stood up and leaned close to Charlie.

"I'll be right back, just stay here and don't talk to anyone," he whispered into her ear.

"Where are you going?," she asked confused and grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving right away.

"I'll just get us some stuff from the storage room, I'll be right back," he answered her in a low voice so only she could hear it.

She couldn't help grinning at him. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah really," he flashed a small smile and walked towards the restrooms but entered the storage room while no one was looking.

Minutes passed and Charlie was still sitting by herself at the bar, some guy started talking to her and she tried to sound as uninterested as possible,  
giving him an annoyed look whenever he asked her a new question.  
She kept glancing over to the door and noticed three men entering it, while answering a question the guy asked her twice already.  
Not sure if she should go or not, she shifted around in her seat, trying to hear something.

"Excuse me, I need to go," she told the guy while pointing towards the restrooms.  
Charlie picked up her stuff and walked in the same direction Bass left earlier.  
As she passed the storage room she could hear noises coming from the inside and as she was about to enter,  
Bass opened the door, looking sweaty and already a little bit bruised in his face. He looked down at her with wide eyes.

"We should go, now," he looked through the room and noticed people are already staring at them.

"W-What happened?," confusion written all over her face.

"Charlotte, we need to leave. I don't have any time to talk about it right now," he told her while looking down into her eyes.

Charlie's expression changed quickly as she nodded and they walked towards the door. Bass stopped abruptly at the bar  
to give the bartender some diamonds as payment for their food and drinks, so that Charlie bumped into him  
and had to stumble back a few steps to find her balance again.  
He waited for her at the door, letting her walk out before he did.

He walked quickly down the path they came from, which leaded them back to the woods, with Charlie staying behind him,  
obviously slowing them down.

"Hurry up a little, we need to get going," he told her while glancing over his shoulder to look at her.

She didn't even ask and started catching up with him, hearing the desperation in his voice made her realize that they are in trouble.

As they were walking in the woods for some time, they slowed down to take a small break and catch their breath.

"What the hell happened back there?"

"Those men joined me and saw me taking stuff, which wouldn't have mattered but one of them recognized me, so I had to deal with it," he told her  
while reaching in his bag and taking out a bottle of water.

"Deal with it? Did you kill them?," she watched him as he took a few sips and handed the bottle to her. This time, she didn't even think about it  
and took some sips before handing it back to him.

"I had no choice, it was me or them. Besides we needed some supplies, it's still a long way."

He watched her, as her expression went from hate to understanding, which only lasted for a few seconds.

"You didn't have to kill them, there's always a choice," she looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"They would have followed us or told someone if I wouldn't have killed them," he put the water bottle back into his bag and picked it up.

"Let's just keep walking," he said passing Charlie, following the path that leads further into the woods.


End file.
